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OK - just passed the halfway point. It's been quite interesting so far, but I'm not sure where I sit in relation to this family.
I liked the father and his quiet dignity, his equanimity and his faithful pursuit of industry. I didn't find him adventurous or bold and his conservative nature didn't push the Buddenbrook name far ahead like the rival family that was prepared to take a few risks.
The son, Thomas, reminds me a little of a future president. Where his father spoke to the common man in a way that made me feel he was totally comfortable in where everyone sat without necessarily being supercilious, I feel Thomas is playing a role. Everything is a means to an end - he's going somewhere better and he knows it. As I'm only halfway through I'm not sure if Mann is going to indicate that this was a major contribution to the family's downfall or not.
Tony is quite interesting. In a way she is right when she says that she is a victim, although second time around in the marriage game I think less so. Everything is a bit of a disaster, but I'm not sure I can hold it that much against her. She understood what her duty was and that her marriage was her means to bring honour to the family name/firm. If I look at her story from a modern standpoint, it becomes a cautionary tale about the importance of looking beyond the periphery aspects of a match and actually understand the "who". In her first marriage all her instincts were correct and she succumbed to the pressure of her family's expectations. I agree with her father that he was largely to blame for this error. But for the second marriage, there's not much discussion of what she actually thought about the suitor from Munich. This left me feeling that she perhaps didn't have as much to say about him as a person and was eager only to right a wrong for her family's honour.
Christian, I just see as a buffoon. I was actually hoping he would contract some horrible illness that would end him and get him out of everyone's hair. I'm still not sure how he's going to play in the downfall, but it looks like his complete lack of discipline while craving an independence he doesn't deserve is going to be a strong factor. I wonder how much being the second son impacted his development. Limited expectation, forever in Tom's shadow. Could it have helped in this rather passive rebellion?
I guess I'll find out more as I progress. I'm enjoying the translation and the attempt to also translate the dialect and slang into appropriate English lingo, but at the same time it does seem a bit weird. I start to feel that I'm reading an English rather than a German novel. Is anyone else feeling this?
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